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Saved: December 12th 2013
Medellin Girls
You see why the Medellin girls are the hottest in Colombia? Girl's got ass! ha ha. But seriously, this is a statue of Botero, a famous Colombian artist who makes everything fat. Why? As one guy unexplained, they're not fat, but volumnous. I don't really buy it...So, here I am in Medellin, Colombia, which once used to be the drug trafficking capital of the world. Well, it’s settled down a considerable bit, and last year was considered the safest city in Latin America. Funny how things change. Colombia used to be a violent country, but now, a lot of that has passed, and just in the last few years, it has been accessible to visitors. A lot of places that are closed off like that turn out to be the best to visit, I find. I’m always a big fan of off the track travel. You find the most authentic people, cultures, and experiences.
As Colombia has just opened up, a lot of people are now visiting here and falling fast in love. There are many places in the world to fall in love with, and everyone kind of finds their own place. Some people settle down in the same town where they were born, and never travel more than 50 miles from their home. Some, even less. It’s all relative. But this is not our destiny.
There is a story of a fish who turns in to a bird in Asia, told by Chuang
The View from my House
we live in the center and have a sweet terrace to chill at night or day and watch the city go by Tsu, a great ancient philosopher.
“In the northern darkness there is a fish and his name is K'un. The K'un is so huge I don't know how many thousand li he measures. He changes and becomes a bird whose name is P'eng. The back of the P'eng measures I don't know how many thousand li across and, when he rises up and flies off, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When the sea begins to move, this bird sets off for the southern darkness, which is the Lake of Heaven.
“The Universal Harmony records various wonders, and it says: ''When the P'eng journeys to the southern darkness, the waters are roiled for three thousand li. He beats the whirlwind and rises ninety thousand li, setting off on the sixth-month gale.'' Wavering heat, bits of dust, living things blown about by the wind - the sky looks very blue. Is that its real color, or is it because it is so far away and has no end? When the bird looks down, all he sees is blue too.
“If water is not piled up deep enough, it won't have the strength to bear up a
Medellin Church
I kinda like this church's style. big boat. Pour a cup of water into a hollow in the floor and bits of trash will sail on it like boats. But set the cup there and it will stick fast, for the water is too shallow and the boat too large. If wind is not piled up deep enough, it won't have the strength to bear up great wings. Therefore when the P'eng rises ninety thousand li, he must have the wind under him like that. Only then can he mount on the back of the wind, shoulder the blue sky, and nothing can hinder or block him. Only then can he set his eyes to the south.
“The cicada and the little dove laugh at this saying, ''When we make an effort and fly up, we can get as far as the elm or the sapanwood tree, but sometimes we don't make it and just fall down on the ground. Now how is anyone going to go ninety thousand li to the south!''
“If you go off to the green woods nearby, you can take along food for three meals and come back with your stomach as full as ever. If you are going
Believe Me...
I didn't know I had my hand right in the buttcrack of this statue, really! But by the look on my face you wouldn't know it. a hundred li, you must grind your grain the night before; and if you are going a thousand li you must start getting together provisions three months in advance. What do these two creatures understand? Little understanding cannot come up to great understanding; the short-lived cannot come up to the long-lived.”
That good ol chang tsu, one of my favorite philosophers…so anyway, now listening to some John Prine, which is something like country music. I have an ipod with me this trip, thanks to my sis, and it’s really nice to have all my music here with me. I can listen to Chopin or Tupac whenever the inspiration strikes. Or Nat King Cole, Joplin, Beethoven, Billie Holiday. It’s really nice, to get to hear your own music. I really missed that last trip. Sometimes you get sick of the local music. I remember when I was in Argentina this trip, feeling pretty sick. I went to the grocery store at about two in the afternoon to get some water and things. For some reason they were playing blaring reggaeton music, which is one mystery that I’ll never understand…
But, the quote of Chuang Tsu touches on a lot
of subjects of travel and what not. I guess all us travelers are mostly just do-no-good philosophers, and vice versa…well, I have a feeling I’d be writing better listening to Mozart of something. John Prines’ Lyrics are very funny, and very entertaining, and thus a bit distracting. But, it’s nice.
So, anyway, looks like I got pretty off topic. I guess that’s bound to happen, just bear with me a bit. That’s how travel is, you can’t be too intent on your destination, or you miss all the fun in getting there, which is really where the trip is. Life’s like that too. The fun is mostly in the diversions, distractions, and detours we take along the way.
I remember when I traveled down to Brazil, the idea was to get there to Rio for carnival. Well, it took me a bit longer, but, what adventures along the way! The unexpected is often the most delightful thing of travel…
Some places, you just know you have a rendezvous. For instance, when I was going to Paris, I just felt that I had a rendezvous with that city. I had never been, but I knew I was going
Santa Fe
A nice chill town, good to take a little trip there... to love it, and indeed, I did. I really did have a rendezvous there, and fell in love with it. Travel is the best when you fall in love with everywhere you go. And if you don’t want to leave, you know you’ve had a good time there. But, my other trips, I just kept leaving, going and going, until I finally reached Rio, where I stayed a few months, but then I had to move on from there as well…
“I Want to Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, With Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now”
is the title of a book by Damien Hirst, a title I liked so much, I bought the book, despite that it was a bit pricey. Mom and dad, if you check my shelf, you will indeed find it there. But, looks like it’s gone up in price now, by my amazon.com search, so I guess it was a good investment! As for the art, very weird gruesome modern stuff. Some pretty morbid, but very interesting. A unique book to say the least. The point being, it would be great to spend the rest of your life everywhere, with everyone,
The Ilumbradas
got here just in time to see the xmas lights. one to one, always, forever, now, but obviously we have certain limitations being mere mortals which make this impossible. And we can only be in one place at a time, so we have to choose where, and how long we’ll spend there. And that’s why I keep wandering on, I want to get to know the world.
Well, I used to think that was the best book title ever, but last night I randomly met a Colombian writer from Medellin. We made a trade, my rock album for his book. The book is called, “La Vuelta al dia en 25 mundos.” Which translates to, “Around the Day in 25 worlds.” By Santiago Londono Montoya. As for book titles, I think that’s up there. Another I really like is “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.” You just know that is said tongue in cheek, and at the same time he means it…if I were to write a book, what would I call it?
“Spent most of my youth out hobo-cruisin,
and all I got for proof
is dirt in my pockets and rocks in my shoes.”
-John Prine
Yeah Prine, tell me about it. Ha ha.
Well,
I've been putting off writing this blog for quite some time, I guess I've been keeping busy over here in Medellin...well, I'm trying to write a blog, and some people at my house are trying to go out later. Well, it's Saturday night, you know? I'm living with a bunch of other foreigners, all good people. So, it's pretty cool to be here.
One thing I wanted to talk about: I went out last night and there were a lot of cops out. I met this kid from Medellin who said his mom was an attorney here and she told him there would be a bunch of cops out tonight, because they were looking for the top drug lord of Medellin of today. I don't remember the name, nor would it be prudent to mention it here. The less you know about that stuff, the better. Ignorance is definitely bliss in that respect. Anyway, they sent out about a thousand cops last night to try to find this guy, because the guy had offered a thousand dollars to anyone who kills a policeman here. And a lot of people here will kill for that much money. He put out
Cool Butterfly
or is it a moth? We'll never know... the hit on cops maybe because they are looking for him, to get back, so obviously this could escalate...He's a bit of the Pablo Escobar of the day, but, still, not really anything near.
Medellin has calmed down a lot these last few years, and so, there still is some drug traffic and such, we might suppose, but, not like the Escobar days. But, you never really see anything of it. The one remnant may be the beautiful women of Medellin. Why does Medellin perhaps have the most beautiful women of Colombia? Well, when I was on my way to Sweden, a kid informed me that Sweden has the most beautiful women in the world, and it's because the pirates went and just stole the most beautiful women from all over Europe. Hey, it's a good theory. Maybe something similar happened in Medellin with the drug traffic, with the hottest girls being imported because these guys had all this money, and you know pirates and cartel bosses both have similar tastes to pillage and have the most beautiful women.
Of course, this is all very controversial, and these theories are just word of mouth. But in the end,
they are just good stories. Some guy told me they are looking for this big Cartel Boss. I don't know. I didn't see it on the news or anything, but I don't know if you would...But, traveling, you sure hear a lot of zingers, and I guess you have to learn to sort out the real from the fiction, although, plenty are stranger than fiction, yet perfectly legit.
Well, that's my blog for now! Hopefully I'll be back around soon...I'll go thru my pics too and put some gooduns up. Peace world!
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Cinthia ramirez
non-member comment
cool
The statue looks like me i have a big old but too!